Kashykia

Kashykia, officially The Kashyk Republic (Kashyk: Republikaas Kashiikija / ⰛⰧⰙⰀⰡⰢⰈԱⰊⰊⰏ ԱⰊⰏⰃⰈⰈԱⰈⰌⰊ, Atluri: ფეღუშბოლნა ნაქშთ - Respublika Kazhug) is a country situated slightly north of the equator bordered by Oxenryd to the west, Galatia to the south-west and a long border with Carkoa to the south. The total area of Kashykia is 296,765 sq km (114,582 sq mi) of which 292,874 sq km (113,079 sq mi) accounts for the land mass and 3,891 sq km (1502 sq mi) accounts for the water area of the country. The country follows and ideology of socialism and the country itself is s parliamentary republic, however still maintains a royal family with no connection to power whatsoever. Kashykia is a member of the United Nations and also the Maia Broadcasting Union (MBU) and took part in the first ever edition of the Maia Song Contest held in Björnska.

Geography
Kashykia is a predominantly mountainous and hilly country with around 75% of the country living over 1000m above sea level. The mountains and hills are usually covered by lush evergreen pine forests and are carved by rivers that form large canyons and gorges some only passable by boat. Located in the Saaraan Region to the East of the country, Mt. Haanja - the highest point in Kashykia - reaches 6250m above sea level and is a popular route for pilgrims who follow the Eastern Orthodox and Miilünisan faiths as there are various shrines and monasteries speckled around the mountain. Other notable types of landscape that can be found in Kashykia are Canyons - most notable the Uuvak River Canyon - and the high plateaus of Esnija where one can find the majestic Svaneti Towers. Despite the cold mountainous landscape inland Kashykia has very warm and dry summers when many of the citizens who live inland flock to the coast in cities such as Söörvanen or Maila. One of the most famous sites for most tourists is the Mailese old town which dates back hundreds of years when Maila used to be a hub for trade and commerce. Furthermore, along the coast one can find many small islands and islets some of which are inhabited by a few people or are completely empty/deserted.

Harjumaa
Harjumaa was originally an autonomous province of Kashykia that was incorportated into Galatia and later made up the territory of North Galatia. The territory was returned to the country of Kashykia after the war between Kashykia and North Galatia had concluded. The province of Harjumaa contains three regions each with an administrative capital.

History and Culture
Originally the land occupied by Kashykia was divided into two Kingdoms – represented on the flag. The Red and White Kingdoms used to be constantly at war with each other until peace was establish at the hands of Tamar the Great who is the founder of modern day Kashykia. The war between Kingdoms was being fought due to the greed to the two Kings and their lust for power without thinking of the population of the two nations. It was impossible for the citizens to rise up against the Kings as they were too oppressed by their leaders to even think of such an idea. Tamar, on the other hand began gaining support due to her kind nature and will to bring the two Kingdoms into prosperity and give the people a fair leader. She and her close circle devised plans to trick the Kings and forge documents that would gradually cede power back to the population. When the time was right, both peoples of the Red and White Kingdoms rebelled with force against their leadership thus began the Great Revolt. The Revolt lasted for 5 years with the Kings now working together to try and keep the population at bay, however, ultimately they did not succeed and both of the Kings were thrown into jail. Tamar was elected as the leader of the country and ruled by a policy of equality, fairness and peace (as they did not want a repeat of the previous decade). Tamar brought Kashykia great prosperity and wealth and her legacy is still admired today. The reason that the two Kingdoms’ colours are represented on the flag is not to remind people of the Kingdoms but to remind the citizens of Kashykia that it is always best to unite to fight for what is right.

Languages
The main language in Kashykia is the Kashykian language which is spoken by all Kashyk citizens as its taught in school and all official documents have to be published in Kashyk. However, due to the mountainous terrain of Kashykia, the country is home to wide array of languages spoken by various different people groups. The most prominent of them being Atluri who are a people group that live in the Esnija region and have a completely different language and culture of Kashykian. Furthermore languages such as Armenian, Estonian, Serbian, Kazakh are spoken in various culture pockets in the many valleys in Kashykia and English and French are taught as compulsory subjects in school so the majority of the population around 85% speak both English and French.

Kashyk Language
The Kashyk alphabet contains 30 letters each with a specific and unique sound that does not change regardless of the situation making Kashyk a phonetic language. The only difference that one can notice is that some vowels are pronounce longer sometimes due to the emphasis on certain syllables. The letters J and Y are pronounced in the same manner, however the letter Y is used only when the following letter it an Ü as a means to comemorate Kashyk hero Yüüriyü Määlinöt.


 * Old Kashyk Alphabet - still in use today.

Alturi Language
The Atluri language is a completely different language in comparison to Kashyk and is unintelligible to someone who only speaks Kashyk. The language has a unique alphabet and only a handful of words are similar to other languages. Atluri is a completely isolated language that has been surviving in the valley of Esnija for thousands of years and the dialect of the language is affected greatly by the geography of Kashykia.

Flags
A table of the most important flags in the Kashyk Republic used in the territory of Kashykia as well as Kashyks living outside of their native country